Rangers this week admitted defeat in their bid to match the wage demands of Commons before seeing Celtic swoop for the Derby and Scotland winger.

Smith ended a two-year transfer hiatus with the £4million purchase of Nikica Jelavic in August but he has been unable to bring in a player this month despite seeing top goalscorer Kenny Miller depart for Bursaspor.

The Ibrox manager is still looking for loan additions before Monday night's transfer deadline, but is optimistic his current squad can cope with the heavy schedule ahead.

Rangers continue their challenge on four fronts with a Co-operative Insurance Cup semi-final against Motherwell on Sunday and Smith is comfortable with the manner in which his players are performing despite having less financial resources than Celtic.

"We've had it now for two-and-a-half years," Smith said. "Whatever happens, we have the prior knowledge that it may be awkward getting people in or, with the likes of Kenny Miller, somebody leaving.

"We have to handle that frustration. Our players have handled it exceptionally well and we are well used to that situation now."

Smith added: "It was always going to be a big ask this season in terms of having the little bit of luck required to go through with a lot of suspensions and injuries at the one time.

"But here we sit towards the end of January, if we win our two games in hand we could go top of the league. We face a semi-final of the League Cup on Sunday.

"Considering I thought we did a reasonable job in the Champions League and we have still got the Europa League to come, then I would say we are handling the season very well up until now.

"We've got a lot of games coming up but we had a lot of games in the first half of the season and managed to handle that. So hopefully we will keep doing that."

Smith dismissed claims that the blow of losing out on Commons was all the more frustrating because he seems destined to sign for Celtic.

"It's just the fact we were in to try to get the player and we have not got him - that's the main thing," Smith said.

"Where he goes after that is really immaterial. He's not coming to Rangers and that's what we would have liked to happen."

The Ibrox boss added: "We're still having a look at trying to get someone. So far we have not had anything that we feel will enhance us.

"We may still have the ability to bring in a player or two but there's nothing in the pipeline so far."

Smith's resources will be stretched further next month after Lee McCulloch picked up a booking in Wednesday night's 2-0 win over Hibernian which means he is likely to miss three Clydesdale Bank Premier League games, including an Old Firm derby.

The midfielder is also expected to miss games against St Johnstone and Motherwell after his ban comes into force in a fortnight.

"Midfield players are going to get bookings over the season but we are disappointed to lose him for three matches," Smith said.

"He is going to be a loss for us because he has played exceptionally well in the time he has been here. But it's an area of the pitch that we can cover."